Kontakt-based instruments just keep getting better, and 2018 saw some of the most ambitious and great-sounding releases ever. Here are the boldest and best Kontakt instruments of the year.

The effects it supports are Chorus, Phase Flange along with controlling its Tempo. Download Freq Echo. MT POWER DRUMKIT 2. MT powder drumkit 2 is a drumkit plugin that is available free. If you are looking for a plugin that helps you in getting a high-quality. Over 400 free VST plugins and VST instruments to use with FL Studio, Ableton Live, and Pro Tools. Includes Bass, Synths, Pianos, Strings. These are the best FREE VST plugins & Free VST Effect Plugins that you can download online.

Learn about composition, sound design and making your own Kontakt instruments: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=category/audio/application/kontakt

Hypernode For Kontakt

Hypernode for Kontakt, from Rigid Audio, is one of the most innovative instruments we’ve ever come across. A fully-featured, modular electronic music arranger and a collection of over 300 Kontakt multi-instruments, it weighs in at 12GB of content. The unusual thing about Hypernode is its ability to let you create not just patterns but also songs inside Kontakt. The arranger section at the top lets you create multiple song sections, each consisting of fully configurable sequencers. You can reassign any instrument using the dropdown menu on a track, and change the way the sequencers operate - chords, panning, pitch and so on - to take full control of what they’re affecting.
Sonically, it’s very versatile. The sheer number of instruments and multis on offer plus the infinite ways you can shape and program them means it really is mind blowingly flexible. A wide range of sounds are covered from ambient through house, techno, retro and more, and grouped by category. They’re all extremely usable, and fit together very well when layered together - and that’s before you have even started modifying them.


Price: £175 plus tax (sale pricing sometimes available)
Web:http://rigid-audio.com/products_hypernode_overview.html
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-hypernode-for-kontakt

Parallax Kontakt Bass Engine

Legendary drum’n’bass outfit Drumsound and Bassline Smith decided in 2018 to put all their production knowledge into an instrument - and the result was the amazing Parallax Kontakt Bass Engine. With a small footprint of 350MB, it has two oscillators - each main oscillator has its own XY pad which you can use to manually tweak filter and LFO settings, with a choice of 24 filters and 9 LFO shapes available per-oscillator. It’s easy to change filters, add LFO for movement and tune and mix the two oscillators. A sub oscillator is available too, as well as unison stage for a really fat sound. Its bass patches are quite simply enormous - terrifying, searing, groundshaking monsters. They are clearly designed to be a lead instrument and not just accompaniment.

Price: £50
Web:http://www.techniquerecordings.co.uk/album/parallax-kontakt-bass-engine
Review: https://ask.audio/articles/review-parallax-kontakt-bass-engine

Sample Logic Arpology Cinematic Dimensions

Best free vst instruments 2018

Weighing in at a whopping 23GB and requiring the full version of Kontakt, Sample Logic’s latest mega-instrument sets a new bar for what’s possible using Kontakt scripting and contains over 1200 presets, quadrupling the power of the original with four cores (for sound generation) allowing users to blend up to four instruments while using different arp patterns at the same time. Sonically there’s a huge range of sounds available to load into cores and each one is extremely malleable - add step animation, effects and change the mix and between these many options you can create almost any kind of sound you can think of from ethereal and small to massive, pulsing and multi-layered.
Arpology Cinematic Dimensions is a remarkable achievement, greatly expanding on the abilities of its predecessor. It’s quick and easy to use - the presets are certainly cinematic in nature, and can be swiftly modified with a few clicks and sliders to suit your particular requirements. And on the other hand, you can go into vast detail tweaking the smallest detail of a sound core, and of course of the way the four cores are blended to produce the final sound.
Thematically, this instrument covers a great many bases as far as scoring is concerned, and will provide a very solid foundation of sounds, sequences and textures for anyone working in the world of music for games, film, tv and similar disciplines.

Price: $349.99
Web:https://www.samplelogic.com/products/arpology-cinematic-dimensions/
'¨Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-sample-logic-arpology-cinematic-dimensions

Karanyi Synths DX

Kontakt instruments can be affordable as well as big and expensive, and one great example is Synths DX from Karanyi, a collection of inspiring sounds for creating subtle cinematic atmospheres, deep, wide sci-fi pads for film, video games, ambient and synthwave music production. With its 60+ instrument presets you get a palette of colors for your next track. The boutique library contains 9 analog and pcm synth gears such as Dave Smith OB6, Moog Minitaur & Sub37, Novation X-Station, Nord Lead 2x, Oberheim Matrix 6 & 1000, Roland Super JV & Yamaha DX7. SYNTHS DX collection recorded and designed in Budapest and Los Angeles during the summer of 2018 with UA and Focusrite preamps. Its 1600 samples take up 2.7 GB of space.

DRONAR Master Edition

Gothic Instruments gathered all eight of its existing DRONAR libraries into one, and gave it a streamlined and updated interface. DRONAR Master Edition weighs in at a whopping 50GB and contains over 2000 presets. Aiming to be a one-stop shop for composers, scoring and sound designers everywhere, it brings together the content from the first eight Dronar modules — Hybrid, Guitarscapes, Live Strings, Dark Synthesis, Cinematic Atmospheres, Vintage Synth, Brass and Metal & Glass and gives them a fairly simple and easy-to-use interface.
Sonically, each of the DRONAR modules is a kind of soundtrack-in-a-box, though with differing characters. Combined here, they make the Master Edition an absolute treasure trove of textures, ambiences, leads, rhythms and atmospheres. Composers or soundtrack designers of any level and in more or less any genre will find much to suit them. It manages to strike a balance between being very detailed - tweak and blend the layers to get just what you want - while also keeping its controls simple. For anyone working with cinematic sound design, this could be the only instrument you need to buy.

Price: £309
Web:https://www.timespace.com/blogs/news/coming-soon-dronar-master-edition-from-gothic-instruments
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-dronar-master-edition

Project CHAOS

Project Chaos features HybridTwo's most advanced UI to date while sticking with their philosophy that ease of use is king. With this Kontakt instrument, you have access to 4 layers, each with their own advanced step sequencer, featuring per-step sub sequencers for volume, sample start, tuning and pan. Add to that their custom scripted modulation matrix featuring 2 LFOs and 2 Sequencers and the rhythmic possibilities are crazy — and also easy to achieve.
With Project Chaos, you can create what HybridTwo call Chaos Banks - essentially self-contained instances of Project Chaos, each with their own set of up to 32 sample categories and their own set of 300 presets. For the first time, it’s possible to truly make HybridTwo's instrument your own.

Price: £173
Web:https://www.timespace.com/products/hybrid-two-project-chaos

NI Discovery : Middle East

DISCOVERY SERIES: MIDDLE EAST features a broad array of distinctive instruments drawn from Arabic, Turkish, and Persian traditions. The 14 percussion instruments range from goblet and frame drums to miniature kettle drums and finger cymbals. The melodic section comprises nine wind, zither, fiddle, and lute-like instruments, including an oud, ney, zurna, kemençe, kanun, tanbur, and three sizes of saz instruments. DISCOVERY SERIES: MIDDLE EAST also includes a string group of violins, viola, and cello recorded by a renowned ensemble from Istanbul.
Users can easily edit patterns and phrases within the interface or drag them to the host digital audio workstation as MIDI files for more in-depth customization. Instruments are available individually and as part of ensembles that include stylistically complementary sounds. With the ensembles, users can blend sounds via familiar mixing controls then polish with EQ, width, and compression.

Price: $99 / £89
Web:https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/world/middle-east

Zero-G Ethera EVI

Described as an all-in-one tool for soundtracks, games and other sound design uses, iZero-G’s Ethera AVI weighs in at a hefty 18GB and consists of four main instrument categories: Vocal True Legato Instrument, Vocal Phrases Instrument, Vocal Builder and EVI Synth.It kind of does several things. It’s a lush and powerful vocal instrument with the ability to let you construct phrases and sequences. It’s got 1GB of electronic drum loops, a full wavetable synthesiser with sample grain control, extensive sound shaping abilities and even an acoustic 1928 piano instrument thrown in for good measure. It’s something of a one-stop shop for soundtrack composition duties. You might normally expect to pay at least twice as much for an instrument with this much scope. For anyone composing for games, film or TV then, it’s absolutely worth a look, especially at the price.

Price: £80
Web:https://www.timespace.com/products/zero-g-ethera-evi-2-0
Review:https://ask.audio/articles/review-zerog-ethera-evi
Learn much more about composition, sound design and making your own Kontakt instruments: https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=category/audio/application/kontakt

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How’s it going, everyone?

It’s been almost three years since we published this article detailing our favorite violin plugins back in 2015. Well, it’s 2018, and it is time to improve this article with our updated recommendations.

VIrtual instruments have advanced dramatically over the years. People used to laugh at the idea of a computer producing sound the resembled that of a real instrument. Now, there are plugins that will blow you away with how realistic they sound.

For that reason, having an arsenal of VST plugins is very powerful for the electronic musician.

Plus, it’s like having an entire orchestra with you all the time! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Today I am going to focus on the best virtual violin plugins.

We’ll cover both paid and free options and there will even be a bonus section at the end of this article!

Let’s begin, shall we?

For Most People: Orchestral Companion – Strings

Here’s why we recommend this plugin: It only costs $60 and it sounds great! You don’t have to give up a months rent to pay for this plugin and it gives you a lot of configuration with its stringed instruments.

Many of us like that rich strings sound – Soft and gentle, and in the next moment hard and brutal.

Of course, we all have different tastes, but, whatever you like, I can assure you that Orchestral Companion Strings can satisfy your taste.

The SONiVOX design team made over 90 outstanding string programs, which can give you best and the most accurate experience as possible.

Orchestral Companion Strings is compatible for Windows and Mac. You can download either a 32-bit or 64-bit version of it. It takes around 15GB of hard drive space.

Best Free Vst Instruments 2020

If you have all of that or more this plugin will run very smoothly!

For the Professional: NOVO Modern Strings by Heavyocity

The kind of sound you can get out of NOVO Modern Strings is insane! The violin samples used to create this plugin were meticulously recorded at Warner Brothers Studios.

This plugin has a very justifiable price tag ($550) based on the quality of it and the amount of work they put into it. In total, this plugin is 40GB. That’s larger than most big-budget PC games!

What really seals the deal with the plugin is the immense control you have over your sound. For example, there is this one section of the plugin called CYCLE. Its interface looks almost like a sequencer and you can very easily tweak it to create rhythmic little pulses and glitch style sounds.

Whether you’re looking for a solo vieolin or a powerful string ensemble for use in an intense movie trailer, NOVO is a wonderful choice.

For Those Who Want an Entire Orchestra: Personal Orchestra 5

This awesome product from Garritan can give you not only a nice sounding violin but also an entire orchestra at your fingertips.

Personal Orchestra costs $150 which is a steal for all of the instruments (Including multiple violin variations) you get.

With so many different stringed instruments, you can be that one-man orchestra, creating a sound nobody can listen to without getting goosebumps!

Personal Orchestra is 64-bit compatible, with not very high system requirements (surprisingly).

It’s pretty easy to use yet very powerful. A new user can get really creative right out of the box.

Some of the included violins are:

  • Solo Stradivari Violin
  • Solo Gagliano Violin
  • Solo Guarneri Violin

And besides violins, there are lots of other instruments such as trumpets, trombones, French horns, keyboards, harps, violas, flutes, and clarinets!

With the current price of Personal Orchestra, it’s worth it alone for the violins. With all the added instruments, you can’t go wrong with this plugin!

And in case you’re worried about buying software that won’t get updated, keep in mind Personal Orchestra has been going since 2010 and are still chugging forward. Personal Orchestra has even been awarded by MusicRadar and MusicTech in 2010.

Other Noteworthy Choices

Orchestral Suite

Next on the list, Orchestral Suite, which with over 60 classical instruments and 15,000 samples in its library, is a pleasure to work with.

With additional instruments like the clarinet, flute, harp, guitar, and even different types of choirs, you can be a music virtuoso with only a small effort.

It features instrument-specific controls, as well as key switching and a pretty easy to use interface.
And it all comes in a small package, 4.6GB of an entire orchestra.

Most importantly, you get plenty of great violins!

It’s always great to have multiple choices. Different types of violins are ideal for different situations and different genres of music.

This high quality and sophisticated plugin is a joy to work with, which is exactly why a lot of today’s top producers use it.

Orchestral Suite is compatible with both Windows and Mac. It will work in every major DAW.

Session Strings by Native Instruments

Sessions Strings is another popular choice among producers. It’s especially a good choice if you are already invested heavily into the Native Instruments ecosystem.

It weighs in at 2.5GB and costs $100. It’s a great plugin, but personally I would go with Personal Orchestra instead (mentioned earlier in this article).

Give it a listen and let your ears be the judge.

Free Violin Plugins

DSK Strings

I am super appreciative of the free instruments DSK Instruments has been able to provide the music production community.

DSK Strings is an awesome little instrument!

It sounds pretty good for a freebie and will be a newbie producer’s best friend.

Sonatina Violin

Sonatina is a solo-violin that can be a great help to you. It’s a little rough around the edges so might have to help it along with some effect plugin processing.

Bonus: The Non-VST Option

Before we conclude this article, I just wanted to open your mind to one more technique that could help you out with your string productions.

Good ol’ sampling!

Sampling has been shaping music since the 80s. We can use this technique to get realistic sounding violin pieces by…well…using violin samples!

There are many different ways we could go about this. It could be as simple as throwing a sustained violin note into a pitched sampler (Although it wouldn’t sound that realistic). We could even take little licks created by others and implement those.

I should also mention that as a musician who participates in sampling, it’s worth your time to educate yourself on the legal stuff. In our How to Get Permission to Remix Songs article, we talked about fair use and derivative work.

Getting royalty-free samples

There are many different places to get royalty-free samples. You could go on Audioblocks and be able to get really high quality samples, but it isn’t cheap – especially if you’re only a hobbyist.

A site I like is freesound.org. As the name suggests, everything they provide is free.

Here are some cool violin samples I found after a bit of searching:

Soundcloud Sampling

Another idea you could try out is to find some violin playing sessions on Soundcloud and use those to sample. Of course, if you decide to publish the work it would be advised to get permission from the original musician.

You’ll find a lot of small artists who just love playing the violin and uploading different compositions they make. Its a great opportunity for sampling.

If you enjoyed this article, I’d appreciate it more than ever if you could share it on social media!

In conclusion, each and every one of these plugins has something that makes them a unique and amazing product. They all have their own purposes and different producers can find different ones the most useful.

No matter what plugin you purchase, you can expect to have a great time spending hours enjoying some of the best quality violin sounds that exist.

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